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Woman guilty of severing estranged husband's penis

A Southern California jury has convicted a woman who was accused of drugging her estranged husband before severing his penis and tossing it in the garbage disposal.

Jurors found Catherine Kieu guilty Monday of charges of torture and aggravated mayhem for the July 11, 2011, attack.

Sentencing was scheduled for June 28.

During trial, the 60-year-old victim testified that his penis could not be reattached and that he felt as though he had been murdered.

Deputy District Attorney John Christl told jurors that Kieu, 50, drugged the man's tofu with sleeping pills and screamed "You deserve it!" before attacking him with a 10-inch kitchen knife.

Kieu was jealous and angry about her husband's plans to divorce her because he was seeing his ex-girlfriend, the prosecution said.

Audio of the incident was captured by a voice-activated recorder Kieu had hidden in the bedroom, Christl said.

The man, who is not being named by the AP because of the nature of the attack, married Kieu after they met at a gym but soon subjected Kieu to verbal and sexual abuse, Kieu's public defender, Frank Bittar, said during trial.

Kieu had mental health problems caused by a childhood full of molestation and other trauma in war-torn Vietnam and her husband also constantly demanded sex in ways that caused her pain, Bittar said.

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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